A BETTER TOMORROW II (1987)
Making a sequel to A Better Tomorrow was a bad idea. After all, it ended with a tragic final note that underlined its moral themes; crime doesn't pay and revenge will bury everyone involved. Where else was there to go when all the main heroes were either dead or in prison? Of course following up a hit movie like this with an under-developed and convoluted sequel is what Hong Kong cinema does best. John Woo's idea of what to do next seems to have been push deeper into melodrama, make the action more outrageous, and simply re-name any characters he wanted to bring back. As a result the final product is a ridiculous movie in more ways than one.
Spoilers for part one follow; so go and check it out. Following the previous triad adventure former boss Ho (Ti Lung) is still in prison, and his gang brother Mark (Chow Yun Fat) is still dead. His actual brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) is still trying to get evidence about counterfeit money operations, but has begun working undercover to do so. Ho and Kit eventually end up on the same side as they try to gather information about a shipyard owned by Lung, (Dean Shek) another old triad head who wants to go straight. Shek's name alone is enough to make old-school action fans grimace, but fortunately he's not here to do any prat-falls or mugging. Well not until the second act anyway.
Lung is a well respected figure in the underworld, and an old friend of various characters in the story, even though he never appeared last time around. But a lot of odd things that didn't get mentioned before are about to show up. However, during the opening things are fairly restrained as Lung's business is threatened by less honourable triad members. Meanwhile Ho finds out about Kit's work and takes up an offer to leave prison to help with the case. Which has put a strain on Kit's marriage to a now pregnant Jackie (Emily Chu). The legit enterprise versus gangster business plot is fairly boiler-plate stuff, but soon everything falls apart and this serious tone goes out of the window.
Lung suffers a major setback and he's forced to leave for New York City where more problems cause him to have a complete mental breakdown. Like many elements of this story the whole thing is completely unconvincing as he immediately loses his mind and is taken way for electro-shock therapy. Luckily there's help from Mark's identical twin Ken (Chow Yun-Fat) who just happens to be working nearby. It's hard to say which part is funnier; the way they gloss over this sibling story like it's nothing, or most of his scenes. The whole affair becomes ludicrous as he faces off against a local protection racket and rages over a plate of rice they won't eat. Later his idea of therapy for Lung involves yet more plates of food as it devolves into ultra-melodrama.
Why is Ken's house so huge? Why are there so many oranges? Why can Lung's state only be solved by more bloodshed? It seems to be the joy of bullets that leads to his awakening, but there are few real answers as dozens of hired goons appear to destroy churches, homes, and hotels. The reason for all of this isn't important, what's important is that it's packed with as much overwrought conflict as possible. 'It's not like the movies, where even the dead rise again,' remarks Ken, despite his character's blatant origin. Meanwhile a series of contrivances leads Ho to Lung's enemies, who want him to prove his loyalty... by killing Kit. To be fair Kit seems like an idiot, leaving his wife at every chance to put himself in danger. But it's not a realistic movie.
Even the special effects are less convincing this time around with various bad opticals, including bombs and gunshot hits. There's more noticeable wire-work, the editing is occasionally rough, and certain music cues feel thrown together. Perhaps it's because it was made to release only a year after the original film. Still, Woo wanted to go on location in New York, and he wanted a huge amount of action scenes, which is what he got. By the time Kit is mortally wounded for a second time it's easiest to just go with the flow of the melodrama, because the action payoffs are worth it. Terms like 'larger than life' and 'heightened reality' don't fully describe how things unravel by the end. But then the absurd scene in which someone has documented Ho and Ken's exploits in comic panel art is a sign of things to come.
The finale, put succinctly, is total pandemonium. Lung was going straight, but it's now time for action. Uncle Ging (Kenneth Tsang) was just an ex-con running cab company in part one, and barely features here, but at the last minute he's prepared for war. Ken was scalding teenagers for trying to look cool earlier in the story, but now he's using the bullet holes in Mark's coat to carry grenades. As everything descends into an inferno it seems like every low level hood in city is in one mansion; and they're all dressed for their own funeral. As Ti Lung picks up a sword calling back to his Shaw Brothers days the whole thing becomes a massacre, but it's all perfectly shot with black suits and red blood against white marble.
If the original story was a straightforward tale of clashing ideals and underworld backstabbing, occasionally intercut with gun battles, then this is a monstrous effort in which everything has been dialled up to levels that verge on parody. In that way it's perhaps unique, although some of the script issues are the same kind that plague many Hong Kong action sequels. It's messy, it's over-the-top, and it's got too many things going on at once. But while it can't decide on being a warning against this way of life, or a story about how hot lead solves all problems, it's just too entertaining and bizarre to be anything but an action staple. John Woo may go on to direct more refined films in the following years, but they'd never as wild.
4/5
